Things I Have Forgotten

We are coming up on the end of the year. This is our last full week. Seniors are taking their finals (not in our classrooms) and we're not too far from the underclassmen doing the same. I am preparing to give my final regular assessment in my Algebra 2 classes tomorrow. We are finishing up rational expressions and I pulled out the folder review (original post from Mrs. Graham is here) I had used last year and tweaked it to fit what they were reviewing for tomorrow's assessment. In all four of my classes, students worked. Not every student, but the vast majority of them. For it being a Monday and 8 days left in school, I felt that was great.

As my last class was working on the review and I was making the rounds, it hit me. When I design activities that "force" them to work, most students do what is needed to be done. When they actually practice, they do well. What I have been doing in the classroom this year has not done that well at all. The best students will practice the homework problems, but for the most part, since I am not grading the homework and I am not sitting there finding a way to make them do the problems, many do not practice as they should.

So, how do I restructure my class to make sure that my students practice their mathematics? How do I provide enough structure that they feel they can attempt the problems on their own without being the "sage on the stage?" I feel that the guided notes I have created to help them take notes has helped, however, there are still too many who don't even bother to fill them in. Without having a textbook right now for students to refer to for help, I still feel that giving some direct instruction with guided notes is important. I also realize that they need in class practice time without it being a social/free-for-all time. How do I blend it all together?

Please help by sharing your classroom practices

I had my evaluation today. It was not pretty, and this was not totally unexpected on my part. As I am stepping back and looking at this year, the more I reflect on it, the more I realize that with the changes in my Algebra 2 curriculum (moving to Common Core, not using a textbook), I reverted back to what I know - using direct instruction. And I did it way too much. I knew that going into my evaluation. My students are not very engaged in my class, something else I pretty much knew. My evaluation did not tell me anything that I did not already know. Was I upset? Yes. Even though I knew where I stood, I haven't figured out what to do about it and the reality of where I am at coupled with that I don't really know how to fix it made me upset. I'm not going to rehash everything. It's not productive and at this point, I need to move on. I need to figure out how to fix stuff.

So, I reach out to my teaching friends in the Math Twitterblogosphere for help. I don't know who else to ask. Please remember that I teach high school (primarily 10th graders, but I do have all grades) and understand that I see my students 50 minutes each day. If you could share what has worked in your classrooms in the comments, I would be greatly appreciative. I need to have somewhere to start.

The two main areas I want to and need to work on are student engagement and differentiation. What do you do in your classes to have students doing most of the "work" if you will and you, as teacher, not being the one up in front of the class? How do you structure your lessons to accomplish this? I realize that not every concept will lend itself to some of these strategies, but any guidance you can give will help. John Scammell shared what he did with multiplying radicals earlier and I am using that here in the near future. How do you create these kinds of materials? How do you set up the worksheet for them to discover the rules? What other strategies do you have to share?

As far as differentiation goes, I guess the biggest question I have at the moment is how do you structure and put into practice differentiated assessments while making sure that every student demonstrates they know the concept and without making your job a nightmare to grade them? Do you use tests or do you use something else (projects, assignment, etc.)? If you don't use tests, how do you structure the project or assignment to ensure that the student demonstrates their own knowledge (as opposed to his or her knowledge with help) or do you not worry about it so much?

If you don't want to respond in the comments and would rather email me, you are welcome to email me at lmhenry9 at gmail dot com. Thanks in advance for your help.

Lost My Mojo

Warning - venting ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you... :-)

I am worn out. I don't think I have worked harder as a teacher than I have this year, and to be honest, I cannot say that I feel that this has been my best year as a teacher. With Common Core and the changes to the Algebra 2 curriculum, I have been doing everything from scratch for it. Some of the stuff I have used previous years has been all right to use, but for the most part, I am starting fresh. I almost hate to say it out loud, but I am not happy with how stuff has turned out.

I had high hopes for this school year before it began. The year did not begin the way I would have liked it and I don't think that I ever really recovered from it. It's not worth going into the details and rehashing it, but as I sit back and reflect, I know that the start of the year ended up setting the tone for me. I had one stretch during state testing where I was actually ahead in my planning, but most nights I am planning for the next day or maybe a day or so ahead.

I feel so incredibly lost at times in terms of how I should be setting up my classes. I have taught for 21 years and for most of that time, I was the "sage on the stage." I don't think I ever effectively learned how to be the "guide on the side," even though those two phrases have been en vogue for a while. I want to be less helpful and push my students to do more of the thinking on their own, however, I find myself going back to direct teaching when introducing new material. I do have to say that I think my questioning techniques have improved. I do feel like I am asking good questions and I have brought in Max's "What do you notice?" much more into my repertoire lately. As I reflect on what I have designed this year, I still feel that an awful lot looks like what stuff from textbooks have looked like for years. From what we have heard on Common Core, I know that's not going to cut it.

It's not that I don't want to design better lessons. I do. I'm just not feeling it right now at all. I keep going back to that I don't know how to, but the reality is that I could probably figure it out with enough time and energy. Right now, I lack the energy. I feel like I have lost my planning mojo. There are even days that I don't find teaching as enjoyable as I used to. Now, part of that may be that I am teaching the same thing 4 times a day. Some of it is that I need some new tools in my tool box and I just haven't had time to find them.

I miss sharing on Twitter. I still read pretty much daily, although I do a lot of skimming. But the conversations are not the same for me. I find it hard to have some of the richer conversations that we did at times in the last 2 years - especially as I was trying to figure out Standards Based Grading. I really ought to be having some of those types of conversations on Twitter about planning and how to implement the Standards for Mathematical Practice in my classroom and all sorts of stuff. However, honestly, as of late, it seems that when I post a query on Twitter, it gets ignored or lost in the shuffle. I suppose I have to think about how to start the conversation in 140 characters again.

Like Kristen Fouss, I have thoughts about leaving the classroom this year. I can't quite pinpoint why I am having these thoughts. I have taught in the classroom for 21 years and that's pretty much what I know. But this year has worn on me. I can't say I'm thrilled with the direction things seem to be heading, not that I am totally sure what that is right now. However, I have no idea what what I would do instead of teaching. Would I like it? What if I am not happy not teaching? It would be very difficult to get back in with 21 years experience and a Masters Degree. Not to mention, leaving public education right now would dramatically change our life plans later on for my husband and I. However, the idea does intrigue me a little. I can't say I have seen anything that is worth pursing, but it is an interesting thought.

So where does that put me at the moment? Worn out. Trying not to start counting the days until the end of the year (we just started the fourth grading period - that could be really bad!). Trying to figure out where my planning and teaching mojo has gone and desperately wanting it to return. So, please, if you've seen my planning and teaching mojo, send it back. I won't even ask where you found it. I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

(Lack of) Practice and the SBG Blues

State tests were 2 weeks ago. Spring Break is approaching. It must be time for students to start to get lazy...

I gave my assessment today on graphing logarithmic functions and properties of logarithms. I gave 3 practice days in class - more than I had anticipated giving. We had an unexpected snow day on Friday, which is when I had originally planning on giving the assessment. As I was circulating around the classroom as students practiced on Wednesday and Thursday last week, it was obvious that students had not done a whole lot of practice. Two weeks ago was state test week so we were on a goofy schedule. I still taught. With the exception of the one practice set, I suspect that students didn't do a whole lot of practice. I know they did one since there was time in class for them to work on it.

My higher ability/motivated students did pretty well. They almost always do. They prepared for their assessment, albeit in some cases at the last minute. However, most students did not put in the practice time they should have prior to review time. To add to this, the end of the grading period is tomorrow. I had several students telling me today that they wanted to reassess on previous learning targets. They have known for a week that the deadline is tomorrow. I am not expecting many of those students to do well.

Why, oh why, do students put off preparations? Why do they choose not to practice (well, I somewhat know that answer - Sam eloquently blogged recently about it)? How do you differentiate in math class when part of the issue is that students don't know what they are doing because they don't practice? I know I have more questions but the bottom line is that right now I don't have any answers and this frustrates me.

What Emily blogged about as far as no longer doing homework intrigues me. Not sure if I'm ready to go there though. Part of my concern is making sure that students do get enough practice. How much is enough? 5 problems? 10 problems? 2 problems?

I just have so many questions and no answers. I think part of what has shook me about this assessment is that I felt I taught the material well and it is obvious that the students didn't learn it as well as I thought. Is the goofy week of state testing to blame? Did I not do as good of a job as I thought I did? Is it on me or my students? Is because Spring Break starts at the end of the day tomorrow?

I am sure there are some things I can do better. I am not doing formative assessment like I should. I need to incorporate it much better into my routine. I am confident that being an EnCoMPASS Fellow beginning this summer will help me to improve as a teacher, however, that doesn't help me at the moment. Let's just say that I definitely need Spring Break, even if it's only from Thursday through Monday. I need the time to regroup. Maybe I'll get some answers between now and the end of break. In the meantime, I'll continue to ponder.

When does "by hand" graphing or processes matter?

I am finishing up teaching polynomials to my Algebra 2 classes. We are discussing the Rational Root Theorem (i.e. p's and q's) right now. When I presented the material on Friday, I went through the whole process - finding the factors of p, finding the factors of q, finding the p/q values and testing using synthetic division. As much as I like doing synthetic division, I had forgotten how frustrating this process is for students - it is tedious and they know by now that they can find the zeros by finding the x-intercepts of the graph.

So, as I reflected over the weekend and into this morning, I decided when I assess them on this learning target, I am only going to ask them to identity the factors of p and q and the p/q values. I am not going to ask them to fully find the zeros of the polynomial from that list. The more I thought about it, the more it became clearer to me that if they were going to have to find zeros from a polynomial students would have access to technology (such as a graphing calculator or Desmos). As I was working with students today and reflecting on this learning target, I kept coming back to this question: How do we determine when it is important to have students do the processes by hand versus using technology instead? Is it really important to have students find all the zeros by hand? I had to (granted, the first easily available graphing calculators came out when I was a senior in high school) - so why shouldn't my students have to? (note - I know that's not a good reason why, just throwing my thoughts out there.)

This question is not new to me. I have wrestled with it on and off throughout my teaching career. When students have graphing calculators that can do things like graph and find zeros and maxima and minima, etc., this question returns often. However, this year, I have a mixed bag as far as who has a graphing calculator and who does not. With having (4) computers in the classroom, Desmos has been a nice addition and is far less clunky in identifying intercepts and extrema. From the bits and pieces I have caught from tweets, Desmos continues to improve and everything I have seen from them shows that they are incredibly responsive to its users (and teachers!) Bob Lochel addressed the TI vs. Desmos issue in his blog post this weekend "An Open Letter to My TI Friends." I have to say that even though I have not received quite the training and benefits that Bob has from TI, I found myself really agreeing with every point that he made in his Dear TI letter. (Go read it if you haven't already - it's worth it!) But once again, not everyone has access to the technology in my classes. We are not a 1-to-1 school, I don't have a class set of iPads or tablets or even graphing calculators. My classes range from about 30% to 50% of my students having a TI graphing calculator. I have students who do have smartphones, but they are not allowed to use them in school. I'm already starting to think about next year and how I'm going to deal with the whole technology issue. Do I have my students all get TI graphing calculators, full well knowing that many of them will not use them after my class? Do I skip the graphing calculators and find a way to work with Desmos, knowing that I have 4 computers in my class and that's it? Do I try to find funding for a class set of graphing calculators? Tablets?

But I digress from my original query. I have taught for 21 years and this is the same question that I had when I first started teaching with TI graphing calculators then. At what point do you push aside the by hand processes and let the technology take over? Are you shorting students mathematical learning by doing this or is it enhancing it? How do you structure lessons so that the technology enhances the mathematics rather than glosses over it? I'm curious to see what you all think. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

Noticing and Wondering

Tuesday evening, Max spoke at the Global Math Department meeting about Noticing and Wondering. He has spoken about this before at Twitter Math Camp and I was a bit intrigued about it then. When I saw he was speaking Tuesday night, I knew I had to be there.

Now, I'll be honest, this is NOT something I have done with my students. I have had the tendency to instruct without letting them do a whole lot of exploring. Part of it for me is that there is so much material to teach in Algebra 2 (and I am having to play catch up from Algebra 1) and part of it is my own comfort level. However, as I was thinking about my lesson on Friday about the Remainder and Factor Theorem, inspiration struck me on Wednesday. My Algebra 2 students were having an assessment on Thursday and there would be enough time afterwards for them to do a little noticing and wondering. After their assessment, I asked them to complete a paper with the following questions:

Do (x^3 + 6x ^2 - 3x + 7) / (x + 3) using synthetic division.
Find f(-3) if f(x) = x^3 + 6x ^2 - 3x + 7.
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

Do (2x^4 + 6x^3 - 15x^2 + 15x - 50) / (x - 2) using synthetic division.
If f(x) = 2x^4 + 6x^3 - 15x^2 + 15x - 50, what is f(2)?
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

Here are some of the responses I received:

Notice:

• I don't remember how to do (the f(__)) problem.
• same problem and you get the remainder
• the remainder is the same as the answer of the function and they have the same number of terms
• The remainder of the synthetic division is the same answer as the 2nd problem I worked out (the f(__) problem).
• I noticed that the numbers are the same in the problems and f(x) is the same number as it is in the box of in synthetic division.

(I had several answers that were similar to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th notice bullets.)

Wonder:

• How to do it (the f(__) problem)
• Could you use synthetic division to find f(x)?
• (Written under the 1st wonder) I got the same remainder for the 2nd set of problems, but not the 1st set of problems. What did I do wrong on the top question?
• Can you use functions to solve synthetic division?
• What do they have in common? Why are they both remainders?
• How does that happen? Why are they the same?
• Are we going to do the same thing as before or is it different?
• I wonder if the two problems are related. I wonder if you can use the 2nd problem to figure out the synthetic division problem.
• Will this be the case every time? (Then the student added on the 2nd one when his answer did not match) Will the answer match the remainder if the number replacing x is negative?
• Why is the answer the same as the remainder?
• Are they connected? Is this another way?

My observations:

• Many (TOO MANY!) of my students did not recognize function notation or how to work with it. This is something we did review earlier in the year and it dismays me how many had no clue. Even several of my top kids came up to ask how to deal with f(-3) and once I told them, they remembered. However, that they even had to ask worries me.
• The students who didn't know how to do synthetic division (all the way) correctly obviously did not make the connection at all. Many of these students left the notice/wonder part blank.
• I half expected some smart-aleck responses from some of my students (especially some of my struggling ones). I didn't get any. However, I had a lot of blanks in the spaces asking for their noticings and wonderings.

I had chosen to do it this way, rather than orally, for two reasons:

1) I knew I was going to have extra time after their assessment and this would help keep them focused and quietly working on something.

2) I felt that this would give my students who do not catch on as quickly as my top students the opportunity to think about it and possibly make the connection on their own. In my Algebra 2 classes, I have a range of students from very bright students (who mostly took Algebra 1 in 8th grade) to students who struggle with math. Not all of my high-ability students caught it, and some of my middle ability students did put together the connection rather nicely. I hope that will help them tomorrow when we discuss the Remainder and Factor Theorems.

Originally, I didn't think I would give them their papers back. However, after reviewing them and reflecting some, I think I will give them back to them. Hopefully we'll have some nice discussion about it tomorrow.

Addendum:
On Friday, my principal came in to observe me during the 1st of my 4 Algebra 2 classes. (We are a Race to the Top school and we are doing the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System this year.) Although I'm guessing I'll get dinged for this not being as much of a class discussion since they had completed the noticings and wonderings on paper the day before, I feel like it went pretty well. I would have liked some more discussion out of them. Part of it for me is that I haven't done this before and finding the right questions to elicit discussion out of them was a little bit of a challenge for me. I feel like we answered most of their wonderings, which is a good thing. :-)

How the Math Twitterblogosphere Has Changed Me

Before I tweeted, blogged, and organized Twitter Math Camp, I was a much different teacher. I did mostly lecture-style teaching. I had very little contact with other math teachers outside of my district. I spent little time outside of my school day thinking about mathematics and teaching mathematics.

And then I found Twitter. (Well, actually my husband asked me to check it out for something else and here I am. :-) ) I saw all these great and wonderful teachers and what they were doing in their classes and thought to myself, "Maybe I can do that in my classes." I went to visit one of my Twitter friends and saw that I wasn't totally off base in how I taught (because after reading all of these great things others are doing, you do start questioning what you are doing in your class). I started incorporating more and more things that I learned and read about from my fellow members in the Math Twitterblogosphere.

Fast forward to today. It is now about 2 weeks after my midterm exams have been completed by my students. I am still sitting here frustrated. I have never sat and obsessed worried about how my students have done on their exams. I did what I thought was best - gave them a chance to see the types of problems that they would encounter. I know the reason they did poorly is that they didn't practice. But I cannot stop myself from thinking about things to do differently, even though I realize that at this point there's not a whole lot I can do to change it.

I am still sitting here wondering what the point of the semester exam is. I know partially it's supposed to let students demonstrate what they learn (and for evaluation purposes, that is part of it). But when students don't take these kinds of exams on any semblance of a regular basis, they don't know how to prepare for them. Students focus on doing what they need to do to get by and when that assessment is asking them to remember stuff from 4 months ago, it is difficult for them if they are not using it on a regular enough basis. But when what we learned back in September is not directly related to what we are doing in December and January, that's difficult. We have so much material we are tasked with teaching these students that it creates a culture at times of learning the material for the short term and move on to the next. With all of the different viewpoints on teaching mathematics, there are good points to each (and some not good points). I can see what some of the "reformers" are getting at, but I go back sometimes to "what was so wrong with how we learned math?" (Side note - here's an interesting article from Education News about how maybe what we were doing wasn't so wrong.)

I didn't use to obsess think about my teaching this much. As I come up on the next topic, I start  to think about what I can do to help my students learn the material. I read way too much education and math education material and haven't read much of anything for pleasure in a while (which I miss sometimes). I spend lots of time putting together materials for my classes than I ever used to. And sometimes, I think I am doing a better job as a teacher (although since semester exams, I really don't feel that way). As much as I like that I am making changes in my classroom, sometimes I wonder if I am making the right changes. Sometimes I think I think way much about all of this and I need to step back. Maybe that's why I'm not blogging as much this year (although I'm sure that keeping on top of my curriculum has a pretty good part of that as well). I am starting to reach the point though that I feel I need to find the right balance - between thinking about/preparing for my classes and thinking about other things. I hope I can get there soon.

Frustrated and Discouraged

I haven't posted in a while. To be honest, I have been rather busy trying to keep on top of school work and life in general. However, I am compelled to post about midterm exams.

**Blogger's Note: I know at the end of this I am posing a lot of questions. Right now, I have no answers. Please feel free to add your own answers and comments at the end. Thanks. --LMH

I generally feel that this year has gone well. I have been doing what I felt was a good job teaching, although I know there are a lot of things to improve on. Students have been doing well. Some have been reassessing. Grades for the grading period have looked pretty good this year. Generally, I feel that my students have been "getting" what I have taught. Then midterm exams hit.

In my 21 years teaching, this has to be the worst year yet for midterm exams for me. My students did so poorly. We were to give exams over two days and I did a multiple choice portion and a non multiple choice portion, both of which I made up. I went through as I have done in previous years and put together a review sheet that had one or two of each type of question on the review (although I did find out that I missed one). I gave two days in class time to work on the review so that 1) students would (hopefully) complete the problems and 2) students would have time to ask questions. I allowed students to compile an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of notes and formulas (they could not have example problems on it).

Students did NOT do well on the non-multiple choice portion at all. I had some of my more motivated students ask me about a couple of the questions that were on the review that were a little different than questions they had seen before. I knew when I put them on there that they were not the exact type of question I had on an assessment before, but I also felt that they had the requisite knowledge of the mathematics involved to solve the problems. There were two word problems on there that students had seen before. The one question I had inadvertently left off the review was a question that involved algebraic manipulation and I felt that students should have had the requisite background knowledge to successfully solve the problem. They struggled and in some cases, didn't even attempt these problems.

What I cannot for the life of me figure out is that in spite of warning students that they needed to do all of the problems on the review, they did not listen. In spite of telling them they really should take the time to put together their own note page so they could review the material, I had many students come in without a note page and I had several students who had a copy of a note page that another student had compiled for himself and that he shared. I cannot figure out why students who had done decent or well on assessments over the course of the year did so poorly on the midterm exam. What in the world did I do wrong? How can their midterm exam grades not even come close to what their grades have been all along?

Is Standards Based Grading to blame? Are my students so focused on the short term that they truly don't focus on really learning and owning the material for the long term? I honestly think this last question is a good part of the reason. I am thinking of a few students who choose to reassess (and reassess often in some cases) and they earn 4's, 4 1/2's and 5's many times but then did not do well or attempt some of these other problems at all. Am I setting up a culture in my classroom (not intentionally) emphasizes short term learning? How do I change that?

A Day in My Life #DITLife

5:10 am So, it is Monday morning and my alarm goes off as it does every work day. I really don't want to get up. I was up too late working on stuff for today and I am tired. I snooze the alarm a couple of times.

5:25 am I crawl out of bed and start my day. I begin getting ready for school and head to the family room to check email, Twitter, and Facebook. Today I don't have to get lunches ready since both of my children are buying their lunches - yay!

5:55 am I eat a quick bowl of cereal and finish getting ready for work. As I finish getting ready, I can hear my daughter stirring and am silently praying that she doesn't get up before I leave.

6:15 am I am now in the car - earliest I've been in a week or two and I made it out before my 9 year old daughter got up - double win! I begin the 25 minute drive to work and start to think through what's ahead in my day. While still on the road, I call home for the first time to try to wake my husband.

6:40 am  I finish the drive to school and park in my usual spot next to one of our Social Studies teachers. I walk into my classroom, drop my stuff and head to the office to sign in. I hurry back to write a class-wide reassessment on multiplying polynomials and factoring for my Algebra 2 students that at this point I think I am going to give on Tuesday. I head to the teacher's lounge to make copies for my 7th Grade Financial Literacy class later on and drop off the assessments to be copied in the office. I return to my classroom and write on the board what my students are learning today. I then put together the opening slide for my students and begin prepping my station activities that I had put together the night before.

7:15 am One of our special ed aides stops in after she arrives and we discuss the plan for my Algebra 2 class for the next couple of days as well as what we're going to do about a student in my Math 2 class who needs to make up an assessment from Friday. We chat about the football game Friday night and she shows me the signs she and her daughter made in support of our undefeated football team. Once she leaves, I continue prepping the station activities and call home again.

7:30 am Students start heading down the hall, but no bell. Seems like there's a problem with them this morning. My first period class, Math 2, begins entering the room. At 7:37 am, still no bell as there should be. So I go ahead and start announcements and take attendance. I hand back their assessments from Friday and we head down to the computer lab to work on ALEKS. We arrive at the lab to find it locked. I send a student to the office to get it unlocked and about 5 minutes later, the principal comes to unlock the door for us. Students spend about 30 minutes working on practice problems based on what they need to work on. Meanwhile, I finish the last of my station prep and find the lemonade stand website online that will work without me circumventing the Web Filter for my Financial Literacy class.

8:30 am My first period class heads out the door to the bell, which is now working. Second period enters and are already wondering how they did on Friday's assessment. I had forgotten to pull down their first nine weeks grades and as a couple of students check their grades and comment there's no change, I confirm that I haven't updated grades yet. I hand back their assessments, expressing my disappointment in how they did as a class and reminding them that they needed to practice more than they probably did. I also remind them that factoring is a key skill they will need throughout Algebra 2 and their mathematics courses and that it is important to their success. I announce that we are going to work through 6 stations, 5 minutes a piece, and everyone is re-assessing tomorrow unless they already earned a 5. As students are getting their supplies for the stations, I am readjusting groups since 5 students are absent today, which throws off the groups I had already set up based on how they did on the assessment. I assign students to groups and they are off and (mostly) working.

9:05 am Now that students are in their second station activity, I am realizing that I grossly underestimated the time it would take them to work through the station activities.  I make the decision that they will work through 3 stations today, 3 tomorrow, and re-assess on Wednesday. It is important to me that they practice this thoroughly so that they will do better and have a stronger grasp on the skill. I announce as I am moving the last station around that we will re-assess on Wednesday and continue practicing the stations tomorrow.

9:20 am Second period is coming to a close and students are cleaning up. They leave and my third period class enters. Third period is pretty much a repeat of second period, except that I tell them up front that we are reassessing on Wednesday. I also have three absences and decide not to adjust the groups, feeling that the absent students will have a better chance for success if they are integrated into existing groups.

10:15 am Third period finishes and I head down the hall to meet my 7th graders. Normally, I would bring them to my classroom, however today, I am taking them to the computer lab, which is in the hallway between the high school and middle school. Mainly I am doing this  because the school nurse is doing vision screenings today during my class. Rather than trying to have lecture on new material or an in class activity down in my classroom (which is a rather lengthy distance from the middle school office where the screenings are taking place), I decide to have students work in pairs or threes doing the "Lemonade Stand" game as a part of our discussion on supply and demand and as a transition to discussing about setting prices tomorrow. This group does pretty well with this activity and work the entire period. However, a little more than halfway through the period, the middle school principal comes over the PA system and announces that it is time for our monthly building fire drill. While she is announcing this, I am quickly checking for where I am to take my students. Then off we go. My students handle it very well. We return to the computer and finish our activity.

11:08 am The bell rings and my middle school students are off to class and I am off to lunch. I stop in the office to drop my stuff, duck into the bathroom, head to the cafeteria to get my lunch and head to the lunchroom. Lunch discussion revolves around the football game Friday and plans for this coming Friday's game and other light hearted topics. I really do enjoy the people I have lunch with.

11:35 am Back down to my classroom to set up for my fifth period class. Students begin to enter class around 11:44 am. A couple of my students express their concern about how they did on the assessment Friday. This is now the third time going through this for me and it goes a lot like the other two periods. This is also my smallest class and it's a little easier to get around to touch base with each of my students to see how they're doing with the material and just generally how they're doing. This class also has the largest range of ability. I have some very strong students academically and some very weak ones as well. If I have to say a class is my favorite, this one would be it this year. They have some real fun personalities and I do enjoy them.

12:35 pm Stations are winding down in my fifth period class and I bring out the dice for a couple rounds of "Polar Bears Around an Ice Hole." I've been doing this with them for several days now and many of my 17 students have gotten it. 2 more get it before the end of the period. I think it's running its course and I'll have to bring something else out to pique their curiosity. Maybe I'll bring out Set next.

12:42 pm The bell rings and off goes my fifth period class. My sixth period class enters and this is the last class I teach of the day. This class goes much like the other three went, but I can see that several students aren't putting forth the effort they really to be to improve. This is my largest Algebra 2 class and I'm not able to make it around to touch base with as many students as I'd like to. One of the students asks if he is coming down during seventh period (my planning, his study hall) to get help as we had discussed on Friday and I tell him that I'm not sure if I'll get down to get him, especially if he's not taking the class work time very seriously (which he doesn't).

1:35 pm Sixth period is out the door and I am right behind them, heading to the office to read the afternoon announcements. There are a lot today and it takes quite a bit of time today. I drop the announcements off in the principal's office and head back to my classroom. We are supposed to meet as a department today but I am dreading it. I really feel like I am pushing my two colleagues to meet and that they don't contribute much, let alone want to meet in the first place. My senior colleague comes in and says that my other colleague is "tied up." He asks what I've got today and I ask if I can pick his brain a bit, since I don't have a lot more time with him. He will retire at the end of the school year. We talk (well, mostly he does) about student work ethic and motivation and how to keep students reaching for the level that we feel they should be achieving. It's nice to know that some of the frustrations that I have had with the group of students he now has he is having as well. He and I share a lot of the same viewpoints and I know he is a solid teacher. I left our conversation feeling like I am not in a bad place and that I am doing okay merging old and new. We finish talking about our upcoming evaluations and I realize that I have not signed up for which class my principal is going to evaluate me in. So, off to the office I go to sign up and decide on Thursday when I am introducing graphing quadratic equations, vertex, and axis of symmetry. I decide to go with my 5th period class.

2:20 pm I am heading back to my classroom to get some work done. I work on finishing my note sheet for Thursday and go to get it to send to copying. I do take a break in there when students are dismissed (at 2:30 and 2:35) and monitor the halls briefly. Once I get the first draft, I realize I want to make some changes and head back to my classroom to make them. I reprint the sheet and get it from the teacher's lounge and take it to copying. I head back to my classroom and wrap it up for the day.

3:08 pm I get in the car and head towards home. It is raining and the drive is not particularly fun. I am thinking through my day and thinking of what is yet to be done today. Mondays are incredibly busy in the evenings for us.

3:33 pm I pull into my driveway, take in my school bag, and stop at the bathroom. I grab snacks for my children and snack for choir. I get back in the car at 3:40 and head to get my children at their bus stop at their day care. On the way, I make three phone calls - pay the paper bill, check in with my husband, and chat with my mother.

4:00 pm My children get off the bus and into my car. We head to church for choir practice. When we get to church, both kids bring in their back packs. My daughter starts on her math paper and my son gets our his reading book to read his story to me. He reads rather quickly and gets bored. He heads off to play with another child who is waiting for the start of choir. My daughter is struggling a little with her paper and we work through the problems. She finishes her paper at 4:33 and heads into choir. On my way out, one of the other moms, who is also a Girl Scout Leader, catches me and we talk about an upcoming Girl Scout event that will be on the agenda of our meeting later.

4:40 pm I am now home and typing my agenda for this evening's Girl Scout Leader meeting. I also check email and play a little on Facebook before dashing back out to get my kids.

5:30 pm I pick up my children and drive through McDonald's for dinner for the three of us. We head home to eat. When we get home, we find out that McDonald's screwed up my daughter's dinner order which upsets her. She is now off her ADHD medicine, so who knows what the evening will hold... We eat and my son gets ready for gymnastics. My husband gets home at 6:10 to pick up my son to take him to gymnastics. My daughter and I leave at 6:20 to head back to church for the Girl Scout Leader meeting.

6:30 pm We arrive at church to find that we aren't supposed to be in the atrium - someone else is. However, they want to be in the basement, where we were booked. We agree to swap spaces and all is good. My daughter is not willing to work at the table I want, but she says she'll work on writing her spelling words at a different spot. I remind her that she does not get her iPad until the words are done. My meeting starts at 6:45 and I start it pretty much on time. Surprisingly, we get through the agenda in an hour and I spend time talking to new leaders at the end of the meeting, setting up an evening meeting with the newer leaders after Thanksgiving. Throughout the meeting, I have to check on my daughter, who is not working on her spelling words. Once I'm done, she still doesn't have them finished and I am angry with her.

8:00 pm We head home. I change my clothes and sit with my daughter until she finally finishes copying her 20 spelling words 3 times each. While she was working on her spelling words, my husband and son came home. My husband hasn't eaten so he heats up dinner and deals with my son while I am sitting with my daughter trying to get her to finish her spelling. While she is working, I am checking my email and finally skimming Twitter. I think as I am skimming that I really ought to trim the number of people I follow - there's a lot to catch up on from 6 am, when I last checked Twitter. She finally finishes at 8:45 pm. She heads to bed. I tuck my son in and finish supervising my daughter getting ready for bed, tucking her in just after 9:00 pm.

9:00 pm I sit down on the couch and join my husband. He's watching the football game but he changes to Dancing With the Stars. I finish looking at a couple of things for school tomorrow and start blogging this (I didn't look to see when I started). I am now finishing this at 10:57 pm and will finally crawl into bed about 11:15 pm to get up tomorrow and do it all again. Instead of meetings, laundry awaits. :-)

One Down, Three to Go

Last Friday marked the end of the first grading period. Sometimes, it really amazes me how fast the first grading period sometimes goes. Other times, it seems like it takes forever. I am still trying to figure out where this year fits in. It certainly has been the busiest first grading period I have had. It was not until the last week where I actually felt like I had a small amount of breathing room. Of course, that breathing room is starting to get swallowed up again as I rest a bit this week. We had conferences Monday after school and I have been spending most of this week in the evenings just trying to relax a little bit instead of pushing so hard to work on lessons. I can definitely say that I feel burnt out a little bit and it's only the beginning of November.  I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Break here in a few weeks for some much needed R and R.

There have been lots of exciting things going on. Our school's football team finished the season undefeated. The last time they were undefeated was in 1978 and we won the state championship that year. This weekend is the second round of the state playoffs. Good luck to our boys!

I wish I could say exciting things were going on in my Math 2 class. I really feel like I am struggling with them. Geometry is not my favorite material to teach to start with, and I just really feel like I am struggling to engage them. I have them first thing in the morning. It is an interesting dichotomy of students. I have some students who have struggled in their mathematics and are turned off to the idea of math period. I have some students who are special needs and can get the mathematics with a little help. These students work hard and give me good effort daily. It seems rare that I can get everyone on the same page. We are  finishing up parallels and transversals and will be doing slope next. Then we get into congruent triangles. Not quite sure what I am going to do there to improve this class. Lower ability classes have never been my strong suit and I really wish I could figure out how to teach this class better.

In Algebra 2, we are finishing up factoring. I cannot believe how well the students have done through all of it. It was very gratifying to hear several students say today as we played the review game that they were looking forward to the assessment tomorrow and that they were confident with how they would do. The foundation laid by their Algebra 1 teacher last year  has made a significant difference. I see two things that have been helped by their previous teacher - an instilling of an expectation that they are to work and the content foundation that was laid for these students. I cannot believe how much difference there has been this year. I have not had to teach some of the concepts that I have had to in previous years. Students came in knowing what they should have, and when that happens, it is much easier to briefly review and move on to what I should be teaching.

Next up in Algebra 2 is graphing quadratic equations. I am debating how I am going to introduce it to them. They have seen the basic shape from when we did transformations. I am debating whether and how to use the Dan Meyer classic "Will it hit the hoop?" or something with Angry Birds like Sean Sweeney did or in another fashion or something else. I know when we start graphing quadratics, they won't be able to find the equations that the parabolas form, but it can give some interesting motivation. I've got some thinking to do before Monday....

In one of my Algebra 2 classes, I have quite a few highly motivated and intelligent freshmen. There a few of them who pride themselves on being able to come up with correct answers and maintain a 100% average (and are highly competitive as you might guess). One day last week I brought out the dice and shared the "Polar Bear Game" with them. If you are not familiar -

The name is the game and the game is in the name and the name of the game is "Polar Bears Around an Ice Hole." Like petals around a rose, how many polar bears do you see?

They don't all have it yet, but several of their classmates do. It's been fun to watch them struggle a little - especially since they are not accustomed to struggling. I think the best moment was when one of the other freshmen (rather intelligent, but not in "their circle") watched for 2 rolls and on the third roll had figured out the riddle/answer correctly. He was the first one to get it. After that, several other students have started to watch and have gotten quicker than a few of these high-achieving students have. It's been cool to watch. Guess I'll have to find something else to try with them here in a few weeks or so... (Suggestions are welcome!)

The Current State of Teachers

I am not one to espouse politics or be "rah rah teachers" in public, but I have to say that I am getting sick of being put through the ringer. As I have been reading blogs and taking stock of my own situation at the moment, it seems pretty clear to me that most teachers I know seem to be more strapped for time and stressed than ever. I have taught over 20 years now and I am barely a day ahead in my planning. Even when I was a first year teacher, I don't think I was this close in my planning. I have noticed that many teachers who have been blogging a while have a lack of blog posts, or a lack of posts of stuff that is going on in their classroom. I'm guessing that this isn't due to the lack of great things going on in their classes, but rather from a lack of time to blog about it.

Teachers have been under fire in the media and by politicians for some time. Granted, there are some who have been fighting it publicly. but for the most part, you don't see teachers fighting it. I don't think it's because we are willing to accept the additional work and stresses and criticisms we have been placed under. I think it's because we are conscientious workers who honestly try to do the best we can for our students and because of that, we are busy trying to make sure we are doing the best possible job in our classrooms. And with the remaining time, we are busy trying to keep things afloat at home and in our own lives. It's not that we don't care and that we like being criticized - we don't. But we are just too busy trying to do the best we can to stop and comment.

I can't quite put my finger on why everyone is so busy/stressed/strapped. Is it because of Common Core? Well, not everyone is transitioning yet. Is it because we are all trying to be really awesome teachers and incorporating all of the great stuff we have found in blogs and on Twitter? Well, even my colleagues who are not reading blogs or tweeting are busy and stressed. Is it because we have had more stuff added to our plates? Possibly - I can say that is true at my school since we are doing more with less staff, but I'm not totally convinced that we have had that much added to our plates (but we have had stuff added). Is it because of increased family responsibilities? Maybe. Is it a combination of all of these things? Well, for me it is, but I'm not sure for everyone else. But something has changed this year.

I wish there was some way to promote, convince, make our case public or something. I think a lot of people still think that we have an 8 - 3 job and have summers off plus other vacations during the year and we have it easy. The reality is, we don't. I spend from 6:45 am until 3:15 pm in my school most days, plus usually at least an hour or two each night in planning or grading or researching for lessons as well as an additional 2-3 hours (minimum) on Sunday getting ready for the week ahead. I'm sure that many of you do the same. Don't even get me started about summer. Although we're not at school and working, I am still thinking about and reading and researching for my classes next year. Yes, I do get time off, but it's not as much as people may think. I think the worst thing for me this year is that I am stealing time when my kids are playing together (and not arguing or tearing the house apart) trying to get stuff ready for the next day or two. All of this adds up. It wears on your mind and eventually your body. It's a minor miracle that I haven't gotten sick yet this year - I'm just waiting for it to happen given the pace I have been keeping.

So, what am I going to do about it? Well, I guess I'm continuing to try to get more than 2 days ahead in my class planning. I keep telling that once I reach that point that I'll feel a bit more comfortable. Haven't gotten there yet, unfortunately. I'm going to try to do nice things for my fellow teachers, even if it's something as small as sharing a kind word or a small gesture. But beyond that, I can't really say what I'll do. I feel so helpless to get off this darn hamster wheel I am on. Try as I may, I just can't seem to get into the planning groove I have had in years past. I am striving to get there, but failing. So, I'll do what I know I can do: try to get ahead and try to be as positive as possible. Maybe at some point, I'll feel like I have the energy and the time to defend my choice of profession as we continue to be attacked. But for now, I am going to do what I know best: affect change where I can make a difference.

What a difference a year makes

I am going to be brief, but I have to say I am amazed at how well my Algebra 2 students did with functions so far. We had an assessment Friday over operations, composition, inverses, and piecewise functions (including absolute value). Traditionally for me, this has been a section that students have struggled with. I am pleased to share that they did well on their assessment. Most scores were 3's, 4's, and 5's - most of them in the 4-5 range. 

When I taught these concepts and checked how they were doing with it, they were doing fairly well. I was trying to figure out what was different - why they were doing so well. I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I needed to know what went RIGHT after so many years of struggling. I can only pinpoint a few things:

• this group of kids has been under the old curriculum a longer time (not buying this one... last year's group only had one less year and they did horrible)
• I've been highly influenced by the Math Twitterblogosphere and I finally figured out how to explain it well. :-)
• We had a different Algebra 1 teacher for the first time in 5 years.

In reality, I know that a good part of it is due to the 3rd bullet point. I'd like to think that I've made a lot of good changes since last year, but the reality is, the only major change I made was in how I did piecewise functions and maybe in some of the questioning and wording that I did of explanations. These students have come to me knowing much more than previous years' groups. Now, again, part of that may be that this group of kids may have had teachers who have taken the curriculum we were under seriously and pushed these students to learn the material well. But I think a good part of it is due to their previous teacher.

Their previous teacher was a first year teacher last year. Sadly, he is no longer with my district. He and his new wife have settled in a different area based on where she was able to find a teaching job and he was able to find a job closer to her. I totally get that - I was there once also (took me 5 years to get in the same place as my now-husband). Family has to come first. But I am still sad that he isn't my (direct) teaching colleague anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, he was not perfect. But, he did a great job with teaching the students I have now. His classroom management was quite good for a first year teacher. He held his students to high standards and they achieved them, and retained a good part of the information he taught them. Did they all remember the information right away? No, but with a little reminding, they remembered pretty quickly that they had been taught functions and they understood the notation. 

Quadratics are up next for us and I had hopes before finishing grading papers that I may be able to skip the multiplication of binomials and polynomials. I still have quite a few students struggling with it. However, I am confident with a little more practice, they'll get it again. It is amazing what a difference a year makes. A different teacher, who truly cares about teaching and teaching mathematics to the best of his ability, makes a considerable difference. I am hoping that his successor is as good of a teacher as this first year teacher was. I'll be curious to see how my former colleague develops as a teacher. I am confident that if he continues on the track he began as a first year teacher, he will be a great teacher. I am grateful that my students had him last year and that his students came to me well-prepared.

Change is Hard

(Warning - rambling and ranting ahead) I don't feel like I am a very good math teacher. I can explain the concepts fairly well so that many students understand it. I can structure the lesson so that it makes sense. But, I am pretty much a traditional teacher. I have made no bones about that here.

But then I start reading Mathematics Formative Assessment and we had a Waiver Day last week where a lot of the discussion was around formative assessment and now I feel like I suck as a teacher. As it is, I have been stressed and barely on top of stuff and it is extremely easy to revert to my old, established ways of just teaching and students watching, taking notes and then having to work out the problems.

During the Waiver Day, one of the speakers was talking about making formative assessment part of the daily culture of your classroom. I wish I could remember what exactly she said or what triggered the thoughts in my head, but I got to thinking that maybe I didn't need to do my lessons the same way each day. Right now, I still pretty much start with a warm up, go over homework problems, then teach the lesson. As it is right now, I don't have time to do an exit slip - I am pretty much filling the period. I want to do exit slips - I know I need to, and to be honest, I'd like to get to a point that I could try Socrative with my students. But if I don't have enough time in class to get to a paper exit slip, how am I going to have time to get to Socrative?

Another thing that was discussed, albeit briefly, was flexible grouping and differentiation. This is something else that I haven't done before and probably ought to be doing. It was presented to us as a part of using formative assessment to form the flexible groups. They didn't give us a ton of information about it, so I suppose that I will have to go do some research about it in my ever-growing shrinking free time.

One small good thing that I have done in the last week is I did put together a Google Form to survey my students as to what they know/remember about functions, which is our next unit. In the past, I have just taken for granted that they remembered (or guessed what they wouldn't remember) what was previously taught. I did do a pre-test at the beginning of the school year the last couple of years, but I wasn't happy with it. So, this is what I came up with while mowing the lawn Sunday:


(Hopefully this will continue to show up after my students are done with this)

I did like doing the pre-assessment this way. I very quickly got an idea after the first 5-10 responses where my students stood because I had a fairly good representative sample of students with varying abilities. What I did find out that they didn't know a whole lot about functions and function notation. I didn't ask them about the idea of one-to-one and based on what I saw in their responses, I'm pretty sure they don't remember much about it if at all. I am rethinking how I am going to teach functions. Originally I was going to start right at operations with functions, but I think I am going to have to spend a day reviewing what functions are beforehand. At least I know that now. :-)

Back to the original reason for posting... I still pretty much feel like I am totally sucking as a teacher. I am still pretty much teaching the way I was taught and the way I have taught for the last twenty years. I am looking at some of my students and seeing that they are not engaged. I already see a couple of my lower-ability students already not putting forth much effort and one in particular who is starting to become rather challenging - not participating in group activities and bringing down his group in the process, which happened today. He and I will have to have a conversation here shortly I can see.

I am looking ahead to functions and trying to figure out how I'm going to help my students learn the material. I wanted to type "teach" there, but as I was about to type it, I thought that if I said "teach," I already knew what to do. I know how to explain to my students how to work through the procedural stuff. But that doesn't help them learn the material. I'm trying to figure out how to help them learn the material. Me teaching and them sitting and getting isn't going to work. I have been telling myself that for 2-3 years now. The problem is, I haven't done anything about it. Compounding that, I don't really know what to do. What do I do differently? How do I structure class so that my students are learning and I am aiding them in their learning rather than imparting information to them?

1 step backward to go forward?

I am still behind the proverbial eight ball here. I do have to say that although I don't feel as pressured this weekend, I still have not planned this week yet. I have been slowly working at it today (breaking my no school work on Saturday rule), but I have a lot to get accomplished tomorrow.

I am quickly coming to the conclusion that being a good teacher is extremely time intensive. I'm not saying that I wasn't a good teacher previously, but I certainly have not put as much thought into my lessons and what I'm doing in the classroom in the past as I have in the last couple of years. Case in point: Friday I gave my Algebra 2 students their first assessment. It was over solving systems of equations by graphing, substitution, and elimination. They did fairly well on the two algebraic methods but only about half of my students earned 4s or 5s on graphing. In the past, I would have just let it go, chalking it up to that they didn't prepare well. Even though I know they did not do a good job practicing solving systems of equations by graphing, I also am recognizing that they don't have the concept and will need aspects of it for what we are doing next (solving systems of inequalities by graphing). So, I sit here tonight still pondering what to do.

My first inclination Friday after I finished grading their assessments was that I needed to spend Monday going over how to graph a linear equation. I had originally tweeted for some help on this Friday night and, although I didn't tweet real clearly what I needed, I got some suggestions to think about. As I continue to ponder this today (Saturday), I am wondering how to best handle it since about half seem to have a pretty solid handle on how to graph. I had thought about pairing the students up so that one partner had a good idea of what to do and the other did not, but the question still remained in my head - what do I have them practice? When I tweeted my dilemma, there were a couple of tweets that got me really thinking:

@fawnpnguyen Wonder maybe they haven't had enough real-life context of systems.
@jacehan I had a lot of students who didn't see why we'd solve graphically with equations, so didn't/couldn't, but saw why with inequalities. It can help.

Both of these intrigue me. Fawn's tweet intrigues me because I know they haven't had enough real-life context, period. When I brought in word problems this week, they were already nervous and asked whether I was putting them on the assessment. In my haste to make the assessment, I left them off. However, after a brief discussion with @MSeiler and @4mulafun yesterday about including word problems, I think I really need to incorporate them as much as possible to get them past their discomfort.

James' tweet really intrigues me. I am really sitting here tonight wondering if it's worth going back to review solving systems by graphing when I am preparing to do graphing a linear inequality, followed by systems of inequalities and linear programming. My students will get a healthy dose of graphing over the next week or so. Maybe that will help with their graphing with systems of equations problems, as James suggested. Maybe I really don't need to spend Monday stepping backward to go forward. Instead, maybe this time I will deliberately push forward to a different, but related concept which will help cement the one they struggled with.

I've Been Busy

Well, I can honestly say that I haven't had a start like this in my teaching career. The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy. As I sit here at 7 am on Labor Day morning, I know I should be working on schoolwork, especially since I don't have tomorrow totally planned out, let alone the rest of the week, but I do need to clear my head a bit before I get started.

Two weeks ago, I was informed by my principal that I would be teaching 7th grade Financial Literacy, which is a new 9 weeks course for our 7th graders. 8th graders also (at this point) are taking a 9 weeks course of Financial Literacy. This has not been done in my district before and it is a state requirement. There are not a whole lot of resources from the State of Ohio, so needless to say, I have been scrambling. After some discussions, I have decided to try to teach about half of the material so that when these 7th graders are 8th graders next year, if this course has to be offered again (which may very well happen for a number of reasons that I am not going to get into here), whomever is teaching it has something new to teach them.

Last Monday and Tuesday were our teacher workdays. We were informed that we are to give Benchmark tests to our students and at least two more Benchmark tests during the year to show what value we add to our students. This is part of the new OTES (Ohio Teacher Evaluation System) that we begin this year because we receive Race to the Top funds. Within the next few years, all teachers in Ohio will fall under the new evaluation system. 50% of my evaluation this year is from the results of these Benchmark tests and 50% comes from my (principal's) evaluation. I put principal in parentheses because there can be trained evaluators who can evaluate me also. So, I scrambled to put together Benchmarks for my Algebra 2 and Math 2 courses to give to my students Thursday, before I had taught them anything.

I do have to say that my students really impressed me with the effort and thought they put into their Benchmarks. I felt that I did set it up pretty well. I had an epiphany on the way to school Thursday. It finally dawned on my why they keep using the word "Assessment" in the tests the state has us give.  A "test" can be perceived as a trial - for example, kids test their parents to see what their limits are. But by calling it an assessment (which I am going to start doing this year), you are calling it what it is - you are assessing what your students know. I don't know why it took me 20 years to figure that out. But I am making that change this year.

Anyway, I talked with my students Thursday as to why this Benchmark was important - that I needed to know what they came in knowing so I knew where to start teaching and what I didn't have to teach them because they already knew it. I also said that it will allow me to see how they grow over the course of the year. I told them that this would be the only time I would put a paper in front of them that had material on it that I had not previously taught them or exposed them to, or that they would not be given any guidance on. I also added that this was the only time that "IDK" would be acceptable on an assessment. I explained to them they would see at least 2 and possibly 4 more times where I would ask them to show me what all they have learned and know. I am seriously considering giving them the Benchmark at the end of each 9 weeks since there would be less material on it and hopefully a little less intimidating. I asked that they try to do something on each problem and if they really had no clue to write "IDK."

I was very impressed with the effort my students gave. In fact, I ended up giving them an additional 10-15 minutes on Friday to finish up. Of course, it was my freshmen (the accelerated kids - Algebra 2 at my school is a sophomore class for most) who worked the longest on it because I think it really bothered them that they couldn't do much on it. But even some of my juniors and seniors (the ones who are "behind") worked longer than I expected. Now, I will be honest, I haven't looked at them yet to see what they really did on it. We have had a very full weekend with family and fair activities.

So, after a start of school on Wednesday that included using 2 of the videos from Dan Meyer's Graphing Stories (thanks to @druinok for the idea!) and spending Friday after students finished the Benchmark going over How to Study Mathematics and The Cone of Learning (both from this blog post from @crstn85), I think I'm ready to start teaching. Well, almost ready - Tuesday brings going over SBG for the first time and an introduction to Cornell Notes. Then on to new material for my students.

Pre-School Funk 2012

Well, it's back and worse than ever. The pre-school funk. The one you get about 2-3 weeks before school when you realize that summer is coming to an end and it's time to go back to work. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy teaching. Some days, I can honestly say I even love it. Most days I can say that I like it, and that's a good thing. But I have enjoyed my summer and I love not having to work.

I can certainly pinpoint reasons why it is so bad this year.

We had a wonderful trip to Johnson City, TN in June for the Monte Carlo Nationals which included a trip to Bristol Motor Speedway for a tour and laps around the track.

 

 

Twitter Math Camp. Enough said.

Well, maybe not enough. As awesome as Twitter Math Camp was, I honestly think it is what is having such a profound affect on this year's funk. I guess it's for two reasons. One, as much as I hate to say it, I am experiencing such a let down after TMC finished. For a week, I did NOTHING. Most of that was I had done a lot in the days and weeks leading up to TMC in addition to Mommy duties. I am finding at this point that I am missing my friends a lot. It was so wonderful to be together with people that I have conversed with online for years and who I feel "get" me. It was phenomenal to have the conversations we did - about teaching, about math, and about life. I have never been in a group of math teachers who "get" how I feel about teaching and mathematics. It was great to feel "normal" and in a group of like-minded individuals and I miss them all immensely. I am grateful for their presence in my life and I am glad to know that they are only a tweet away.

But there is a second reason why I am experiencing such a let down. As I approach this school year, I am feeling awfully inadequate. I have been reading what others are doing as they start school and I look at what I am planning and it feels so mundane. I am struggling to figure out what math I want my students to do the first day and I see everyone's great ideas and find myself frustrated that I can't come up with something as good. Then I reflect on how my class tends to go and, again, I look at what everyone else is doing and what we shared at TMC and think about how mediocre my class is in comparison.

Now, before you all think that I am having myself a huge pity party (which I am to an extent), I also know that I don't totally suck. I realize that when we blog about stuff we share our good stuff, but also that we don't do the good stuff every day. Kristen Fouss taught me that when I visited her class 2 years ago. However, with Common Core, there is certainly the pressure to change how we teach. I am encouraged by Mrs. H (Math Tales from the Spring if you're not familiar) that I can make changes even after teaching for 20 years. It doesn't change that I am nervous and scared about it, though. I also know that good teachers aren't afraid to beg, borrow, and steal whatever they think will work for their classroom and adapt it accordingly. I've done that the last two years in particular and I am getting rather good at it. It doesn't change that for once, I'd like to come up with a good original thought and have others be able to use it as I have done with their stuff.

I wish I had favorited the tweet that had the link to a short article I read last week. The article was addressed to veteran teachers and one of the things that stuck with me was about enthusiasm. It made the point to not be overenthusiastic the first day because that's not what you (as a veteran teacher) are. It shows you are trying too hard - which is oftentimes what first year teachers do. As I have been looking at first day posts (this one by MissCalcul8 sticks out - I really like this by the way), I have really liked some of them but I keep coming back to "this is not me." But what is "me" at this point? I'm not sure. Some of the stuff I have seen I have really liked, but trying to make it work in my classroom doesn't make sense - I'm a 40 something teacher with 20 years experience, and, let's face it, we aren't exactly known for being "hip" and "current." My twist on "Call Me Maybe" probably wouldn't come across real well. In fact, I'd be more afraid that it would come across as being a has-been trying to hold on to her youth (which I'm not).

Which brings me back to my funk. I'm not a teaching has-been trying to hold onto my early teaching years. For that matter, I don't want to revisit my young teaching years (for the most part). But I do want to be the best teacher I can be. There is a part of me that knows I cannot let go of how I have taught in the past. I still think that showing students examples and letting them work through them with guidance in the classroom is an effective way to teach mathematics. It may not be the best way all of the time, but I still think it's more effective than some will give it credit. But how much? What is the right balance? Where do I begin in making changes without completely going overboard?

I guess I better figure out the answers soon. Students come a week from Wednesday and I go back a week from Monday. There isn't much time left in vacation. Although, really, at this point, vacation is a loose term meaning I'm not at work. Honestly, the real work starts this week with prepping my room and beginning lesson plans for the upcoming year. So long, Summer 2012. I will fondly look back upon you often this year.

Teaching in an "On Demand" World

Call me old fashioned, but I think we have lost sight of "real time." I know to some of you, this is going to come off sounding like a rant, and if you feel that way, then I apologize for being a little self-indulgent.

(Commence Rant)
I understand that we are in a digital age. DVR, Hulu, and the like lets us watch our favorite television shows whenever we want after they are broadcast. I can upload the pictures I just took of my kids to Facebook, Twitter, etc. to show all of my friends. For that matter, I could have just taken 50 pictures of said children and upload them all, good, bad or indifferent. I get emails from USA Today telling me the breaking news (including spoiling all of the good stuff in that is going to broadcast in Prime Time Olympic coverage). I think we have gotten way too spoiled with all of this.

Not everything can be so immediate. Twitter conversations can be read at any point in time, but it does lose a little when you are replying to a tweet 18 hours after it happens. Regardless of the time lag, I'm still glad when people do respond later on. Sometimes it helps me find something I missed. There are all sorts of interactions that happen online at scheduled times, like #mathchat or the Global Math Department meeting. As much as I'd like to take part in these, there are other things going on in my life that may preclude my involvement, so I miss them. I might be able to go back and find an archive of #mathchat or maybe at some point, whoever is doing the Global Math Department meeting may decide to record it and upload it to the internet, but it won't be the same as interacting in real time. Twitter Math Camp was a phenomenal experience, but like any other in real life conference, if you can't attend, you miss out. Maybe someone will be wonderful and blog about their experience at the conference and if you're really lucky, it got taped and posted on the internet, but again, if you couldn't make it, you missed it.

As much as the digital age has connected us, I think it has also caused us to lose sight of the most important connection - the human connection. I mean the face-to-face, real time connections we make. We have become so accustomed to on demand stuff that we have forgotten that there is this thing called real life that should take precedence. And this attitude has permeated society. I watched last night and this morning as hours before the actual announcement of Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential running mate it was revealed who it was going to be. Whatever happened to the element of suspense and surprise?
(End rant)

So how does this relate to math education? After all, that's what I blog about here... As I think of the nature of learning mathematics, it takes time. Mathematics is not always neat and pretty. In fact, it can be rather messy for many students. In a culture of immediacy, how do you develop in students the perseverance that is often necessary to be successful? If students are looking to work the problem(s) quickly, get the correct answer, and move on, and they don't, how do you keep them going without them giving up? How do you get them past the instant gratification they are constantly seeking? That's the larger issue I see through all of this. As adults, we know that we can't always get what we want quickly. If we think hard enough, we can recall what it was like before the internet and cell phones (well, most of us anyway). These students don't know anything else. How do you blend both worlds successfully?

20 Years

Today was my last day of my 20th year teaching. Wow. I'm not really sure what to think. Now, granted, all 20 have not been in the same place. I taught 5 years outside of Columbus, 2 years at another area district, and 13 at my current district. However, 20 years in the same profession seems like it should be some sort of a milestone. I have been a math teacher for 20 years. I have not taught the same thing for all of those years, but I have been doing the same basic thing for 20 years.

And yet, I have still have a long way to go and enthusiasm left for my job. When I first started teaching, I could potentially retire after 30 years teaching. With the changing conditions of teachers' pensions in the state of Ohio, I could still potentially retire in 10 years, or 11 years. But at that point in time, my first child could be in college, the second one still in high school. I would be 51 (or 52), which is still (relatively) young to retire. And to be honest, I just can't see retiring from teaching at that point. I didn't think I would retire at 30 years when I first started teaching, but it was nice knowing I had that option. With the changes in our state teachers' pension, if I don't retire at 30 or 31 years, I cannot retire until I've taught 39 years (I have to be age 60 and have 35 years in). Although I was a little upset about that at first, I can honestly say that I'm okay with that. At this point, the "plan" is to teach until I reach 40 years, which means I have just hit the halfway point in my teaching career.

Usually at this point of the year, I am jumping up and down to be out of school. In some respects, I am. I was definitely ready to move on to a new group of students from this year's group. But yet, I am a little sad to see some of this year's group go. I had this group in 7th grade, or in 8th grade and 9th grade in some cases and it's been good to see their growth. But this group has also been rather trying in other ways for me (and I've blogged about it and I really don't feel like going there right now to be honest). But instead of jumping up and down on the way out, I was quietly glad for the end of the year. I am looking forward to Twitter Math Camp and the relaxing part of vacation. But there are lots of things circulating in my head that I need to reflect on and decide how to improve.

My summers didn't used to be like this. Ever since I've been involved with the Twitterblogosphere (this blog will be 2 on June 18th and I've been active on Twitter for about 2 1/2 years), my summers have involved introspection, learning on my own about things like Standards Based Grading, and lots of education reading and discussions. And although I'm planning on doing a little of that, I think I am going to be more purposeful in what I am reading. This "Old Dog" is feeling a little worn out right now. It's time to recharge. I'd like to make my next 20 years better than my first 20 years. Thanks to all of you who have helped me (and will help me) become a better teacher. Cheers!

SBG For The Rest of the Students

Today was the last day with students. I have a half day tomorrow and then I will have finished my 20th year teaching. Kind of hard to believe. I have been thinking about several things over the last few days but sitting down and actually blogging about it has been hard. Part of that has to do with all of the other stuff going on. My daughter and I will be heading to Rock the Mall on a turnaround bus trip she earned through selling Girl Scout Cookies. We leave about 11 pm Friday night, ride all night to DC, head to the event, and get on the bus to head home. We'll get in around 4-5 am Sunday morning. I've been getting ready for that. I'm also trying to do some other things to finish the year out as well.

So I sit here Tuesday evening trying to blog the thoughts I've had over the last few days as I close out this year and begin to think about the new one. I suppose I'll have a few posts over the next few days.

Right now the biggest thing on my mind is how next year is going to shape up. My schedule (as of right now) is 1 class of Math 2 (lower ability sophomores - think Geometry without proofs) and 5 classes of Algebra 2. I've taught Math 2 before - it's been 2 years since I had it last, but I haven't done it under SBG before. Since we have to do curriculum maps over the summer, they will be helpful in setting up my Learning Target lists for the year.

As far as Algebra 2 goes, there will be no Advanced Algebra 2 class next year. That means my classes will have students from freshmen, who should be pretty strong mathematically, to sophomores, who are where they should be, to juniors and seniors, who could very well struggle. To be honest, I am little concerned. I think a lot of it goes back to what Michael Pershan blogged about earlier this week.

I did look at my SBG data for this year. I'll spare you all the data like I did last year (SBG Analysis), mainly because I think it's more important to be aware of the overall picture. Like Michael blogged, my top students almost always come in for re-assessments. It doesn't matter whether they are in my Advanced Algebra 2 class or regular Algebra 2 class, almost every freshman student I had came in for at least one re-assessment at some point of the year. If you include my top sophomore students as well in that group, you will find that the top students, as a whole, come in to re-assess. I believe most of them come in because they want to improve their grade, although some come in because they they know they know it better than they showed on the test. Most of these students are successful in improving their scores.

Beyond the top students, most of my other students do not come in for re-assessments. Although this does concern me as a whole, it really concerns me about the lower ability students. Looking ahead, I want to make sure that they do not get lost, especially knowing that Algebra 2 next year will have a much smaller amount of review from Algebra 1. I'm not sure what to do. I am pretty sure that I do not do the best job of reinforcing with my students that they need to re-assess. I am not sure how to best go about doing that without seeming like I am nagging them like their mother. However, I know I need to do a better job with them on talking about SBG on a more regular basis.

However, I am still troubled about those lower level students. I am thinking about a few of my lowest ability students in Algebra 2 this year who really struggled with the second half of the year. How do you get them to come in and get help and re-assess? They are high school students - almost adults. How do you get them to feel it is worthwhile to come in and get help and follow through with actually preparing and re-assessing. These are students who have struggled with mathematics for a while. Their numbers will be growing, since the State of Ohio has not only mandated that the Class of 2014 will graduate with 4 math credits, but also that one of those credits must be Algebra 2 or its equivalent. My numbers of students who have struggled with mathematics (and will most likely struggle with Algebra 2) will continue to increase. How do I help them to be successful?

I have thought about personally inviting the student to stay after school (or come in before school, or during my planning period) for help. However, many of my students, especially the juniors and seniors, work. As I've mentioned before, many of my students receive free or reduced lunch and work may be more a necessity rather than just to earn some extra money for fun. How do you impress upon them that their schooling needs to take more of a priority? How do you get them to realize that it's okay to come in and get help? Another thought I have had was to set up something after school on a weekly basis where students could come in and get help and I'd have some sort of snack for them. Or donuts in the morning for a before school help session. I would hope that food would help to bring them in, although it can get pricey for me depending on numbers and how often I did it. Also, if I get too many students in the door, it becomes more like class and less a help session for a struggling student.

I know I'm rambling a lot here - as many of you know, I tend to blog what I'm thinking with the hope that somehow it works itself out through the process. I feel really stumped about this one. How do you get the struggling students in for help and back in to re-assess?

A Broken Record

My Advanced Algebra 2 students had their quiz today. It had some rational expressions and some radical expressions on it. My Algebra 2 students are working on radical expressions. It continues to boggle me why these students cannot retain material. We did multiplying binomials - and a few still struggle with this - but when it comes to multiplying two radical expressions like (2 + sqrt 3)(4 - sqrt 3) - a majority of them forget to distribute both terms in the first parentheses to both terms in the second parentheses. I just don't get why they had it at one point (or close to had it) and now they can't remember to distribute. Does it have to do with the fact that they weren't taught it until May of the Algebra 1 year? Does it have to do with how it was taught to them at that point in time? I don't think I did anything majorly different in how I taught it back in December and January, in fact I had given them some additional practice in a different way that I described here. And don't even get me started on perfect squares. When simplifying radicals, they are sometimes choosing numbers that are not perfect squares (like 8). I'm sitting here trying to figure out why it still isn't sticking with them. Is it me? Is it them? Is it a combination of both? Or does it have to do with that it's May 4th and they don't want to work very hard at this point? Or all of the above?

If it's me - I am trying to figure out what to do differently next year. Although I still don't know what I am teaching, I am hoping that I am still teaching Algebra 2. Next year's group will have been exposed to more material and in (hopefully) a better manner, so maybe that will help. But if I'm the one making the mistakes - I need to figure out what they are and make serious improvements. I have taught 20 years and I have never seen so many students not be able to retain and/or transfer concepts like this. I know I have made some changes in how I do things but I thought they were for the better. When I do some of the different things I have done this year, students are more involved in class. They seem to be working through the problems (although they are still asking a bunch of questions). So why does it seem worse and not better?

I have blogged about this before (see here, here, here, here, and here). I know I sound like a broken record, but it is really bothering me. How do you get past this? I am also concerned because my last unit with them will be exponentials and logarithms and I am counting on them to remember the exponent rules we talked about earlier in the year as well as some of the powers (like 5^2) without going to their calculators all of the time. I am already sensing I am going to be fighting an uphill battle with them during the last few weeks of school. I know that I am more frustrated about it because it's a Friday in May and it is Prom today on top of that, so I have spent most of today dealing with students who don't want to do anything. But regardless of when it is, it is still an issue and I need to figure out what to do about it. I've got nothing right now.